Orlando

[Gary M]

Fondly remembered series staring Sam Kydd ( 1965 ) - does anyone know if this series survived ?

I hope so but fear the worst !

[john g]

wonderful, hilarious japes. with some really wacky named characters

dont know the answer to your question but as a 'Rediffusion programme' dont hold out much hope.

I recall the last episode was called "Au revoir but it does not mean goodbye"
We thought it would return but the pompous ABC people
who moved to Thames TV hardly renewed anything Rediffusion ever made.

[Gary Robinson]

Two episodes survive from series 2
Clue to a clue 28/9/66
Rhyme but no reason 12/10/66
as far as I am aware.

[Laurence Piper]

I heard a few years ago that a couple more from the same story had turned up too. Anyone else know for sure? It's strange more Sexton Blakes didn't turn up as well - the series went to Thames and colour (and lasted several series) but it seems only one measly episode exists now (ironically a Rediffusion one).

[Gary M]

Thanks to everyone who replied.
Curiously I remember very little about the show, except how much I loved it. It is among my very earliest viewing memories.

With so little surviving I realise that it will probably never be shown again and it will never be commercially viable to do a video release. So I guess I never will see it again.

Maybe thats ok. Just good to know that something of it survives.

[John Stewart Miller]

Apparently the later (68 - 69) ? series was wackier, and there was a talisman with special powers 'the gizmo' in it. All I recall was a spy type chase round a jetty, with a hut in the middle. The pursued fell into 'water' pitted with mud and lichen. It was quicksand. I recall the last shot of his hand being sucked under with air bubbles on the surface.

Certainly a bit gritty for a kids series. My memory hails from the time the Move had 'Blackberry way' out I think.

The titles were in a 'fire brand' type face. They loomed up over someone standing up as a jeep pulled througn chicken wire gates in a desert.

[john g]

I think it started as a spin off from the serious adult adventure series 'Crane ' ? but it got more light hearted as the serials progressed.
Likewise i dont remember much about it, only that it was enjoyable and Sam Kydd freed from his bit part world in the cinema was a joy to watch.

[Anon]

john said:

We thought it would return but the pompous ABC people
who moved to Thames TV hardly renewed anything Rediffusion ever made.

A tad harsh I think.

Let's not forget that was a shotgun marriage in 68.

I believe the 68 shakeup lead to a decline in television, the ramifications of which we are seeing today.

The same with Thames. An excellent company sacrificed because of politics.

[john g]

Well Anon! I have heard that ABC staff thought they were the bees knees and when the marriage happened some former AR staff were driven to tears by the anomosity or Yorkshire TV (which ever came first).
The evidence is clear in the properties that were renewed under Thames
Public Eye , Callan etc all former ABC properties
and while these were good programmes. The good programmes from AR did not get a look in.

Perhaps in the end though it encouraged AR directors like Ridley Scott and Michael Lindsey Hogg to do other things?

[Anon]

I accept everything you say is true. I have heard so myself.

But the real culprits were the Government who forced these ridiculous changes. They killed off pirate radio as well.

The same thing happens when two schools are forced to amalgamate. One always comes out on top.

I suppose some A and r transferred successfully. Do Not Adjust springs to mind.

What a pity they didn't just leave them alone.

LWT was a bit of a disater in the early days was it not?

[Stephen Doran]

im sure there was a clip on the dnays dvd i bought.

[john g]

Anon said:

I accept everything you say is true. I have heard so myself.

But the real culprits were the Government who forced these ridiculous changes. They killed off pirate radio as well.

The same thing happens when two schools are forced to amalgamate. One always comes out on top.

I suppose some A and r transferred successfully. Do Not Adjust springs to mind.

What a pity they didn't just leave them alone.

LWT was a bit of a disater in the early days was it not?

Yes your right its always govs sticking their nose in.

I think LWT was conceived by show people (Frost, Muir, Richman etc) who were perhaps too busy with the programme making side? than to be bothered with the day to day side which of course caught them on the hop in their first year with clashes with the unions etc.

Orlando finished the week before AR closed down IIRC
and people wanted it to come back, but I dont recal Thames ever taking it up . They also cancelled Crossroads as well ! but that backfired on them.

[Laurence Piper]

Rediffusion definitely got the raw deal in the merging of the company with ABC. Very little of what the company had been was carried through to Thames; a handful of programmes (such as Do Not Adjust Your Set and This Week) were kept but that's all. Even the presentation of the new channel was pretty much ABC under a new name. A shame Orlando didn't come back under Thames (stablemate Sexton Blake got a reprieve). With their track record, Rediffusion should never have lost their franchise in the first place and as someone else said above, the repercussions of Lord Hill's appointment and decisions are still being felt today regarding the quality of today's television. The London franchise has been fraught with problems and politics all along though; Thames, after Rediffusion before it, should never have lost it's franchise either.

[John Stewart Miller]

stephendoran said:

im sure there was a clip on the dnays dvd i bought. ;)

The character features in an 'in joke' in the last episode. Don't know who the accompanying man was meant to be! I didn't notice any actual clip, which does mean for todays audience, the joke and identity of these are totally lost.

There was a strip which ran in 'TV comic' (fleetway publication) I think quite late - till '69? It used the same 'fire brand' title logo, which I'm told appeared in slanted flashes before going full screen.

I thought the companions were like Ben and Polly (Dr Who) or the same actors??

[Ralph Town]

Here,s another useless fact about this show.

It used a lot of up and coming talent as guests.

One of which was Marc Bolan as "a delinquent".

Great show tho.
Remember it well

RALPH.